Aid Convoy to Deliver More Than 20 Tonnes of Food and Medicine to Cuba

Volunteers from three continents are set to converge in Havana this weekend, with more than 20 tonnes of food, medicine and solar equipment for Cuban communities hit by a brutal US blockade.

Activists from more than a dozen countries have signed up to participate in the Nuestra America Convoy, which will see Irish rap trio Kneecap and American streamer Hasan Piker join journalists, politicians and high-profile participants of last year’s Gaza aid flotilla in Havana on 21 March.

Alongside up to half a dozen boats that will sail across the Caribbean Sea from Mexico on Thursday, two charter flights are scheduled to arrive later this week, while hundreds of ordinary people carrying suitcases packed with medicines have booked tickets on commercial airlines from around the world.

While the US has had some form of blockade on Cuba since the 1950s, Donald Trump has significantly escalated it by threatening to impose tariffs on any country that sells fuel to the island nation, leading to widespread blackouts and disruption to the delivery of food and the production and distribution of medicine. Even everyday essentials such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo and baby food are now difficult to obtain, plunging the country into humanitarian crisis.

Organisers say the largest charter flight alone will carry more than £300,000 of aid, including food, medicines, surgical equipment and hygiene supplies, to be distributed by Cuban civil society organisations and directly to hospitals and clinics across the island. The convoy will also deliver nearly £400,000 worth of solar panels and generators.

In a statement, Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn condemned the blockade. “For more than six decades, the US blockade has tried to suffocate the Cuban example – a country that, despite relentless economic pressure, built universal healthcare and life expectancy comparable to or higher than the United States,” he said. “Now the Trump administration is escalating that siege in an attempt to break Cuba altogether.

“People across the world must stand with the Cuban people, oppose these punitive policies, and demand the right of every nation to live, develop, and determine its own future free from intimidation.”

Organiser David Adler drew parallels between the convoy and the Gaza aid flotilla, which he took part in last year. “From the global movement that helped end apartheid in South Africa to the flotillas that sailed to challenge the siege of Gaza, international solidarity has repeatedly emerged to confront injustice,” he said. “This convoy to Cuba continues that tradition, delivering critical supplies to the Cuban people and a simple message: you are not alone.”